MacBook Pro - page 44

Apple finally dusted off the MacBook Air. The 2018 model sports a brand new design, a gorgeous Retina display, and powerful upgraded internals. All of sudden, Apple’s most affordable notebook is up there with its best.

In fact, the new ultraportable is so good, you would be crazy to buy a 12-inch MacBook right now. So, how does the new MacBook Air stack up against the rest of Apple’s laptop lineup? Which model best suits your needs, and which delivers the best bang for the buck?

Find out right here in our comprehensive MacBook comparison.

Apple’s press event this morning was jam packed with new devices, including redesigned iPad Pros, an updated MacBook Air, and a faster Mac mini. But we still didn’t get everything we were expecting.

There were some notable absences from the ‘More in the Making’ event, and at least one glaring omission.

Apple didn’t totally leave out the MacBook Pro from receiving some new features today, even though the company didn’t give its most powerful notebook any stage time at today’s event.

While the MacBook Air, Mac mini and iPad Pro were the stars of today’s keynote in New York, Apple quietly revealed on its website that the MacBook Pro is getting a spec bump too.

Apple finally gave its Mac and iPad Pro lineups some much-needed love today during its big ‘There’s More in the Making’ event in New York.

Tim Cook and company brought out some new faces to introduce some gorgeous new products for the company’s last event of the year. Even though we already had a solid idea of what to expect, the company still managed to throw in some surprises and blow away our expectations.

These are the biggest takeaways from the More in the Making keynote:

mophie’s name for the  powerstation USB-C 3XL doesn’t roll off the tongue, but there are plenty of MacBook/MacBook Pro users who should check it out anyway. This 26,000mAh battery is designed to quickly recharge an Apple tablet via USB-C, and can send power to an iPhone at the same time.

Just be warned, the price is enough to turn away some potential customers.

This week on The CultCast: Is Apple preparing to dump a bunch of much-needed Mac updates on us? We discuss. Plus: Something very strange is going on with the Mac — we fill you in. And is MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar actually useful? We give you our brutally honest opinions. And stay tuned for another episode of CultCast 2nd Hour. This time: Siri Shortcuts, explained!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

The third quarter of this year wasn’t a particularly good one for Apple, with Mac sales dropping a significant amount. That doesn’t say positive things about sales of the 2018 MacBook Pro models that debuted this summer.

Still, the company held onto its place as the world’s fourth-largest PC maker.

In the event that your 2018 MacBook Pro or iMac Pro runs into problems outside warranty, would you try and save money by going to third-party repair shop? If so, Apple seemingly has some bad news for you.

According to a new report, Apple has introduced new software locks that will brick these machines if they’re operated on by anyone not using Apple’s proprietary diagnostic software. Failing to do so will, “result in an inoperative system and an incomplete repair.”

The number of Americans who own an iPad or other tablet computer increased marginally in the past two years. However, ownership of a laptop/desktop has dropped significantly in the same period.

Smartphone ownership stayed at the high rate it’s held since 2016. And that’s what’s really cutting into sales of traditional computers.

Best Buy is running another big Apple Shopping Event, with impressive discounts on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup. We also have Apple-certified Lightning cables at a bargain price, and $20 off a great USB-C hub for MacBook.

Plus, you can save $60 on the Astro A20 gaming headset for Mac, and there’s still time to save $55 on the Belkin Valet charging stand for Apple Watch at B&H Photo.

If you use VMware Fusion to run virtual machines on your Mac, it’s time to upgrade.

Version 11 has arrived with full support for macOS Mojave, the 18-core iMac Pro, and the six-core MacBook Pro released this year. The upgrade also adds enhanced Metal graphics rendering, an updated user interface, and more.

Apple pushed out another supplemental update for the 2018 MacBook Pro lineup this week. Its release notes didn’t tell us much about the release, but the company has now explained exactly what users can expect it to do.

It’s not great news for MacBook Pro owners who have suffered crackling speakers.

Everyone wants to tote around less stuff, so add-ons that make your current gear more useful are welcome.  And that’s just what the new PlugBug Duo by TwelveSouth does: it clips onto your MacBook charger and adds a pair of USB ports.

It’s especially handy for people who have a MacBook Pro with a USB-C port, but need to charge gadgets that take a traditional USB port.

MagSafe connection is no more, but Magtop Pro brings back that feature on new MacBook Pros with Type-C charging.

Magtop maybe the tiniest of Mac accessories, but there’s nothing small about its place between the end of your power cord and the Type-C socket.

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro lineup has bigger and better speakers than previous machines, but some users haven’t been enjoying improved sound.

Instead, they hear crackling when they play music or watch videos. The issue appears to be affecting both 13- and 15-inch devices, and it’s not yet clear what’s causing it.

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: It’s official. Apple beats Amazon to the coveted $1 trillion valuation. Tim Cook plays it cool, telling staffers it’s “not the most important measure of our success.”

You’ll find that top story and much more. Check out the the biggest takeaways from Apple’s Q3 earnings call. Feast your eyes on the iPhone X Plus and new LCD iPhone. Plus: Learn how to use the iPhone camera’s manual controls. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

This week on The CultCast: The journey to a trillion! How did Apple become the most valuable company on earth? We discuss, and remember the company’s troubled history. Plus: Is the i9 MacBook Pro a total ripoff? One YouTube reviewer says yes, and his tests are convincing. We’ll fill you in. And stay tuned for the sad decline of MoviePass. Is the troubled movie service still worth it?

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Some frustrated creatives believe Apple is abandoning them and will point to the removal of the SD card slot on the MacBook Pro as one example. A new high-speed card reader by Satechi could ease that anxiety.

The brushed aluminum Type-C Micro/SD reader will be especially valuable to photographers and videographers routinely pausing their workflow to transfer large, high-resolution files. This reader is equipped with UHS-II, which carries a transfer rate of 312 MB/s.

Apple beat Wall Street’s expectations today with its Q3 2018 earnings report. Even though iPhone sales were barely up 1% the company still posted better-than-expected revenues as sales of Apple Watch, services and AirPods picked up the slack leading to Apple’s best Q3 results ever.

Prices of Apple shares skyrocketed closer to the illustrious $204 mark that will make the iPhone-maker the first ever trillion dollar company once the results posted and Tim Cook seemed extremely confident and relaxed on his call with investors this afternoon. While the rest of tech stocks are starting to sink, Apple is as steady ever.

Apple’s weakest earnings report of 2018 is set to be revealed today but it might also contain a few clues about the 2018 iPhone launch this fall.

Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri will talk to investors on an open call at 2 p.m. Pacific. Analysts don’t expect a huge boost in iPhone sales and revenue (in fact some are downright pessimistic). However, Apple could pull out a few surprises like it did the last two quarters.

Per usual, Cult of Mac will be here to live-blog all the action starting at 1:30 p.m. (That’s when the earnings report typically lands.) Come join the fun!

In today’s edition of Deals & Steals, we show you where you can get a brand-new iMac for a phenomenal savings. And, in a similarly enticing Apple deal, you can save $14 on the rarely discounted AirPods.

On top of that, we dug up deals on a new GoPro Hero 4 action cam, an LED monitor and a pair of comfortable gaming headphones — all for insane prices!

This week on The CultCast: Apple has issued a patch that significantly increases performance for all 2018 MacBook Pros, but there’s one glaring problem it doesn’t fix…. We talk benchmarks and real-world performance. Plus, we take a peek at the new HomePod features from iOS 12 beta, and we wrap up with your emails!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Some iMac Pro units are subject to occasional hard crashes. The reasons are hard to pin down, but fingers are starting to point at the Apple T2 chip inside this computer. 

There’s also one in the 2018 MacBook Pro, and this new device is seemingly prone to the same problem.   

Ever since the debut of the 2018 MacBook Pro, there’s been controversy about the top-tier version suffering thermal throttling. Apple today apologized for this problem, and released a fix.

It also seems every version of the new Apple laptop will down-clock itself to prevent overheating. The slowdowns occur even when it’s not totally necessary to stop the machines from being damaged.

The top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 processor has gotten some bad press. The new laptop reportedly is subject to thermal throttling, which is a fancy way of saying that its CPU gets so hot that it slows itself down before burning up.

But before anyone criticizes Apple too much, Consumer Reports came to the company’s defense. The consumer-testing organization points out that other laptops with top-tier processors are also subject to thermal throttling.